Our Coaches

At Advantage Coaching & Training, Inc., we believe that you perform at your best when you can live your passion, mission and vision.

If you are interested in connecting with one of our coaches you can email them directly, call them at 630-293-0210, or contact us with your request and we will match you with the best coach for your need.

Principal Coaches

Affiliate Coaches

• Jim Carbonaro
• Greg Heffington

Principal Coaches

Timothy Ursiny, Ph.D., CBC, RCC™

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Dr. Tim Ursiny, founder of Advantage Coaching & Training Inc., has been a speaker and certified business coach since 1997, specializing in mental, emotional and behavioral change. His areas of expertise include personal transformation, the psychology of succession and building proactive mindsets and habits. He received his undergraduate degree from Wheaton College and his doctorate in psychology from Northern Illinois University. He has extensive experience in the Financial Services industry, working repeatedly with such organizations as Morgan Stanley Wealth Management, Wells Fargo, UBS and Invesco.

He has authored or coauthored fourteen books on the topics of coaching, conflict resolution, and confidence in the workplace. His book, The Coward’s Guide to Conflict is in its fourth printing and has been translated into six foreign languages.

 

Zach Ursiny, CCC^®

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Zach Ursiny, CCC^® brings a unique thought pattern and depth to his coaching process. Zach works with his clients to create an environment of creativity, challenge, and vulnerability, while implementing immediate and lasting change. Using real life experiences and stories, he focuses his coaching on high impact results by digging deep into goals, blocks, and paths to success. Zach’s clients benefit from his experience on a high-performing team as well as his strong background in psychology and coaching. Zach specializes in the psychology of results and relationships in the finance industry. His areas of expertise include: growing a business in today’s world, the dynamics of a top-performing team, and the psychology and process of succession planning. He holds a Certified Corporate Coach (CCC^®) designation for his completion of the Corporate Coach Program.

Zach attended Wheaton College where he achieved a bachelor’s degree in psychology. He is currently working on his first book on the topic of team dynamics in the workplace.

 

Carole A. Cowperthwaite-O’Hagan, RCC™

Email Carole      Watch “Meet Coach Carole” Video

Carole Cowperthwaite-O’Hagan, RCC™, has a passion for creating breakthrough strategies for her clients. Her special focus has been coaching skills, women’s success, and work/life balance. She is especially gifted in the areas of persuasion, integrating work and life, and coaching skills in the workplace. Carole can help you and your team excel. With a background in financial services, professional services, retail, manufacturing and IT consulting, Carole brings a beneficial cross section of marketing and management experience. She has taught coaching techniques to hundreds of individuals, teams and groups within organizations across the country and internationally. Carole is the co-author of Tough Time Tactics and The Coaching Conversation.

She received her Bachelor of Science from Illinois State University. Outside work, Carole loves spending time with her family, attending Chicago sporting events and playing golf.

Rosann Farmer

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Rosann has a vast breadth of knowledge in the financial services industry, which she draws upon to help advisors and teams find new levels of success.

Spending over 20 years in management roles in the Branch, Regional & Independent channels, Rosann has spent the bulk of her career helping advisors view and work on their business more strategically and efficiently.  Recently, Rosann was able to direct that passion in her role as an industry consultant for ten years, focusing on strategic execution, team dynamics, leadership development, efficiency refinement and succession planning. Rosann has been called upon to speak at numerous industry workshops and/or conferences, especially in the areas of embracing change and refining communication.

Rosann focuses her coaching on helping teams in financial services to further develop and grow. Her areas of expertise include strategic planning (including facilitating team offsites), compensation (both FAs and support staff), and leadership. She works closely with the leaders of the team as well as the individual contributors to help create a culture of impact and growth. Rosann partners with her coaching clients to create a personalized coaching and consulting strategy that fits their unique goals and objectives.

Rosann attended Central Washington University where she received undergraduate degrees in Psychology and Sociology. She was also a collegiate basketball athlete and spent numerous years coaching girls’ high school basketball. Her outside interests include spending time with her husband and their adult children and grandkids. Finding time to golf is a real treat and any sporting event is an integral part of their family fun.

Scott West

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Scott works with select, high performing investment professionals equipping them to acquire and retain their optimal clients by personalizing unique and executable strategies.

A graduate of Wheaton College, Scott has almost 40 years of experience developing and then delivering “edutaining“ content, whether on a main stage or in one-on-one engagements. He co-founded the Invesco Global Consulting Group during his 35-year career at Invesco, launching dozens of programs in six countries with ideas designed to transform the advisor’s practice.

He is also the co-author of five books, including the bestseller ‘Storyselling for Financial Advisors’.

Born in Toronto, Scott is a lifelong hockey fan. Sadly, his attempt at a serious playing career ended at age 9 when, after several coaches’ evaluations of him at a youth hockey camp, he was strongly encouraged to pursue a career in sales. He has continued his love of sports and leaning new things, including his recent foray into the fast growing game of pickle ball.

 

Kristen Bauer, CCC^®

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Kristen Bauer, CCC^® utilizes her strong foundation in psychology to help her clients produce meaningful change in their professional and personal lives. Kristen partners with top-performing advisor teams to develop strong team dynamics, enhance communication, and facilitate productive conflict, particularly through ACT’s unique Team 360 analysis. Kristen’s specialties in coaching and training include communication, team dynamics, and developing the use of emotional intelligence in the workplace. She uses research-based and modern psychological tactics to create a coaching relationship founded on vulnerability, direct communication, and goal setting to produce effective results.

She received her undergraduate degree in psychology from Taylor University and her graduate degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Florida Gulf Coast University. She is currently writing her first book on the topic of team dynamics.

 

Affiliate Coaches

Jim Carbonaro, RCC™

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Jim has spent more than 30 years in the retail brokerage industry in leadership development and coaching. He is a Registered Corporate Coach with the Worldwide Association of Business Coaches and an adjunct to many fine firms specializing in leadership development. Jim’s last corporate position was with Morgan Stanley in Talent Management and Leadership Development.  Jim started his career as a training professional within the retail brokerage industry in the early ’80s with Merrill Lynch and in the 30+ years since he has held senior level training and development positions with Smith Barney (now Morgan Stanley), PaineWebber (now UBS) and Prudential/Wachovia (now Wells Fargo Advisors). He was also the Regional Business Manager for the Northeast Region of Prudential Securities just before and after the merger with Wachovia.

Jim attended St. John’s University undergrad and also has an MBA from Fordham University. Jim and  his wife Beverly make their home in Rockland County, NY in the Hudson Valley, as well as Sarasota, FL near Siesta Key.

 

Greg Heffington, RCC™

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Greg seeks to bring the message of more effective communication directly to select professionals seeking better and more productive relationships with clients, peers, and associates. He has particularly focused on developing disciplined practices aimed at enabling professionals and organizations to connect with clients in a meaningful way.  Greg’s experience includes working in operations and compliance, marketing, and sales. Greg is a well-respected speaker on a wide range of topics relevant to companies, C-Level Executives, and sales professionals. A few of his areas of focus in his coaching are communication skills, client-centered practices and business development.

Greg has been a guest lecturer at The University of Southern California Marshal School of Business and is the coauthor of Get Inspired to Retire: Over 150 ideas to help find your retirement. He has provided executive and business coaching as a Registered Corporate Coach (RCC™) since 2004.

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